Hydraulic fracturing is an important technique that includes placing or extending channels from the wellbore to the reservoir. This operation includes hydraulically injecting a fracturing fluid into a wellbore penetrating or adjacent to a petroleum-producing subterranean formation and forcing the fracturing fluid against the surrounding subterranean material by pressure. The subterranean material is forced to crack, creating or enlarging one or more fractures. Proppant can be placed in fractures to prevent or reduce closure. The fractures can provide flow or can provide improved flow of the recoverable fluids from the formation, such as petroleum materials.
The geometry of a hydraulic fracture can have a heavy impact on the efficiency of an extraction operation. It can be valuable to understand the dimensions and pattern of a hydraulic fracture, such as during and after the fracturing operation, including after other stimulation treatments are conducted. One method currently used to characterize hydraulic fractures is by the detection of microseismic events triggered by shear slippage on bedding planes or on natural fractures adjacent to the hydraulic fracture. However, limited data regarding fracture geometry, including length, height, width, and the overall pattern of the fracture, is provided by current methods.
A wide variety of energetic materials are known. However, sensitivity to shock, pressure, temperature, density, and chemical sensitivity limits the ability to use various energetic materials downhole in subterranean extraction operations safely and effectively.